FRYEBURG – When Maine humorist Gary Crocker opens his act Monday night, he will become the first entertainer to set foot on Fryeburg Fair’s new $150,000 Night Show stage.

“I think it’s safe to say this has been a lifelong dream of the entertainment committee,” fair President Roy Andrews said. Tony Martineau, head of promotions and night shows, agreed.

“It’s been kind of fun saying goodbye to the old stage of 25 years,” Martineau said, smiling as he pretended to hold back a tear at the loss of the 20-by-36-foot stage.

The new one is 24 by 50 feet.

For about two years, fair organizers designed and discussed the new stage. Andrews and son David, superintendent of buildings and grounds, worked with Martineau and engineer-designer David Hart of Fish Street Design.

Welder Scott Lusky engineered the frame using more than 30,000 pounds steel provided by McFarland Steel, one of Fryeburg’s largest companies.

The stage has 16 wheels under it on eight 2,000-pound axles, which brought the total weight up to 24 tons.

For the covering, fair officials chose Rubb Buildings, a worldwide company with a plant in Sanford. Among its numerous projects, the company built the new Sprague Building at Merrill Terminal in Portland as well as the new United Hangar at Logan Airport in Boston.

Jim Chadbourne, sales manager for Rubb, explained that a translucent rigid frame tension membrane will be stretched over post-production, hot galvanized steel. The membrane is expected to last 25 to 30 years and will not collapse under snow load, he said.

The stage is easily pulled from either end, an advantage for setup and takedown on the race track in front of the main grandstand.

“This is one of a kind, that’s for sure,” Andrews said. “It will only take two people to set up, where it took 15 to get the old one in place and ready for the night show.”

Part of the set-up used to involve hauling speakers in on separate trailers.

“With a bit of luck, we’ll be able to house the whole sound system on it. No more hay wagons,” Martineau said.

The stage, the third in the fair’s history, will be parked a few hundred feet away at the head of the stretch in a special area created next to the harness horse paddock.